This disclosure relates to a signal transmission apparatus, an electronic instrument and a signal transmission method, and more particularly to a technology for transmitting a signal between a plurality of housings of an electronic instrument.
A foldable electronic instrument is known wherein a plurality of housings are connected for folding movement by a connection section for which a hinge structure is utilized. Usually, an electric wiring line such as a flexible cable or a thin line coaxial cable for connecting the housings to each other is disposed in the connection section to achieve a signal interface between the housings. A related art is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4082353 or Japanese Patent No. 4079126, particularly refer to FIGS. 2 to 4. However, the signal transmission by an electric wiring line has a problem in reliability in that a cable may be deteriorated until it is broken down and another problem that, as the transmission rate increases, the number of wiring lines increases.
On the other hand, as a method which does not rely upon an electric wiring line, it has been proposed to utilize optical communication in a connection section of a hinge mechanism to carry out signal transmission. The signal transmission just described is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 4079126, particularly in FIGS. 6 and 7, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-222084.